Matthew J. Sharbaugh
How Judge Sharbaugh decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
On fee petitions he scrutinizes billing for work attributable to non-prevailing/non-settling parties and segregates or applies percentage reductions, but otherwise defers to reasonable lodestar calculations.
“he applied a general-percentage reduction to any non-segregable work ... recommends that this Court grant Plaintiff’s motion in large part”
Motion outcomes
Counted from classified signed orders only. Percentages are shown only where the sample is large enough to be meaningful; smaller samples are reported as raw counts.
| Summary judgment N = 3 |
Granted: 1Granted in part: 1Denied: 1 | counts only |
| Motion for attorney fees N = 1 |
Granted in part: 1 | counts only |
| Motion to expunge N = 1 |
Denied: 1 | counts only |
| Motion for judgment of reversal N = 1 |
Granted in part: 1 | counts only |
| Motion to affirm N = 1 |
Granted in part: 1 | counts only |
A "1 of 1" is one ruling, not a tendency. Treat small samples as illustrative, not predictive.
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Magistrate Judge Sharbaugh recommends that this Court grant Plaintiff’s motion in large part and award $170,009.95 in attorneys’ fees and $2,427.48 in costs.”
“the Report and Recommendation [Dkt. # 18] is ADOPTED in its entirety; it is FURTHER ORDERED that defendant’s motion to expunge criminal record [Dkt. # 13] is DENIED.”
“the undersigned recommends that Plaintiff’s motion for judgment of reversal (ECF No. 7) and the Commissioner’s motion for judgment of affirmance (ECF No. 8) both be GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART ... and that the case be REMANDED to the SSA pursuant to sentence four”
“the Commissioner’s motion for judgment of affirmance (ECF No. 8) ... be GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART”
“Magistrate Judge Sharbaugh recommended that the Court deny Philpot’s motion and grant the District’s cross-motion.”
“Magistrate Judge Sharbaugh recommended that the Court deny Philpot’s motion and grant the District’s cross-motion.”
“The undersigned recommends that the Court remand for further consideration on the class-size claim, as well.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
From the R&Rs read (NOT a counted distribution): IDEA / special-education merits and attorneys'-fee disputes (Philpot; J.T.; and DCPS FAPE matters dominate his civil referrals), FLSA / D.C. wage-and-hour fee petitions (Cabrera v. Mogoo), Social Security disability appeals (William R. v. King), and miscellaneous criminal (motion to expunge -- Jane Doe/De Amigos) and FOIA referrals (e.g. U.S. Central Command FOIA, per docket records). Referring district judges seen: Randolph D. Moss, Timothy J. Kelly, Jia M. Cobb, Amy Berman Jackson, Amir H. Ali.